Classical Conditioning
by Jazza-44
Summary: You think your world is safe? It is an illusion. A comforting lie told to protect you. Enjoy these final moments of peace. For I have returned to have my vengeance; for, there is nothing I would not do…for my family. So, shall we begin? - Star Trek: Into Darkness - Slightly AU
1. Reasons

Chapter One: Reasons

_Star-date: __2259.55 (or February 24, 2259)_

Kirk stormed into the holding bay, fuming, watching as Bones took a blood sample from John Harrison.

"Why aren't we moving…Captain?" Harrison questioned, eyes knowing something Kirk did not. "An unexpected malfunction, perhaps, with your Warp core? Conveniently stranding you at the edge of Klingon space?"

"How the hell do you know that?" Bones asked harshly.

"Bones." Kirk shook his head.

Kirk started to leave with Spock when Khan spoke up again. "I think you'll find my insight valuable, Captain."

Kirk glared at Harrison, tense. "We good?" he asked Bones as he finished retrieving the blood sample. Bones nodded. "Let me know what you find."

Kirk began to walk away with Spock when Harrison spoke again. "Ignore me, and you will get everyone on this ship killed."

Kirk stopped, considering Harrison's words whilst Spock tried to persuade him to do otherwise. "Captain, I believe he will only attempt to manipulate you. I would not recommend engaging the prisoner further."

Kirk had had enough of being told what to do. "Just, give me a minute." He gestured at Spock to let it alone and walked back over to confront Khan. "Let me explain what's happening here. You are a criminal! I watched you murder innocent men and women! I was authorized to _end_ you! And the _only_ reason why you are still alive is because I am _allowing_ it. So _shut your mouth_."

Harrison gazed back at him calmly. "Captain, are you going to punch me again, over and over, until your arm weakens... clearly you want to. So tell me, why did you allow me to live?"

"We all make mistakes." Kirk replied, fighting the urge to do exactly what he'd just suggested.

Harrison chuckled. "No." He locked eyes with the Captain. "I surrendered to you because, despite your attempt to convince me otherwise, you seem to have a conscience, Mr Kirk. If you did not, then it would be impossible for me to convince you of the truth." Harrison paused. "Two-three, one-seven, four-six, one-one. Coordinates not far from Earth. If you want to know why I did what I did, go and take a look."

"Give me one reason why I should listen to you." Kirk glared at his prisoner, who seemed to be the only person on this ship that wanted to be there.

Harrison levelled his gaze with Kirk's. "I can give you seventy-two. And they're on board your ship, Captain. They have been, all along." Khan paused as Kirk's eyes widened. "I suggest… you open one up."

...

"Why is there a man in that torpedo?" Kirk questioned angrily.

"There are men and women in all of those torpedos," Khan replied calmly. "I put them there."

"Who the hell are you?" Kirk demanded.

Khan looked away for a moment before replying. "A remnant of a time long past…Genetically engineered to be superior so as to lead others to peace in a world at war. We were condemned as criminals; forced into exile. For centuries, we slept, hoping when we awoke things would be…different. But as a result of the destruction of Vulcan, your Star Fleet began to aggressively search distant quadrants of space. My ship was found adrift, I alone was revived."

"I looked up John Harrison. Until a year ago, he didn't exist." Kirk said, somewhat smugly.

"John Harrison was a fiction created the moment I was awoken by your Admiral Marcus to help him advance his cause. A smoke-screen, to conceal my true identity." Khan replied, a snarl curling his lip. "My name…is…Khan." He paused, watching Kirk intently.

"Why would a Star Fleet Admiral ask a three hundred year old frozen man for help?" Kirk asked, his tone slightly sarcastic.

"Because, I am better." Khan replied.

"At what?" Kirk replied with a hint of sarcasm.

"Everything." Khan's voice was low, every bit of malice and danger he possessed rolling off him in waves. "Alexander Marcus needed to respond to an uncivilised threat in a civilised time, and for that he needed a warriors' mind, _my mind_, to design weapons and warships."

"You are suggesting Admiral Marcus violated every regulation he vowed to uphold simply because he wanted to exploit your intellect?" Spock queried, head cocked slightly to one side.

"He wanted to exploit my _savagery_." Khan spat. "Intellect alone is useless in a fight, Mr. Spock. You can't even break a rule, how would you be expected to break bone? Marcus used me to design weapons to help him realise his vision of a militarised Star Fleet. He sent you to use those weapons; to fire my torpedoes at an unsuspecting planet. And then, he purposefully crippled your ship in enemy space, leading to _one _inevitable outcome. The Klingons would come searching for whomever was responsible, and you would have no chance of escape. Marcus would finally have the war he always talked about. The war he always wanted."

"No." Kirk replied, his voice barely a whisper. "No. I watched you open fire in a room of unarmed, Star Fleet officers. You killed them in cold blood."

"Marcus took my crew from me." Khan replied as he faced away from Kirk and Spock.

"You are a murderer!" Kirk roared.

"He used my friends to control me!" Khan continued, faced away from Kirk and Spock, holding back tears of grief and relief. "I tried to smuggle them to safety by concealing them in the very weapons I had designed… But I was discovered. I had no choice…but to escape alone. And when I did, I had every reason to suspect that Marcus had killed _every single one_ of the people I hold most dear…" rage and hurt filled Khan's voice as a single tear fell from his right eye. "So I responded in kind… My crew is my family, Kirk." Khan's voice softened infantismally. "Is there anything you would not do for your family?"

Kirk regarded Khan carefully, comprehending in some small part why Khan had done what he had done, when Sulu's voice came over the intercom. "Sir, proximity alert. There's a ship at Warp heading right for us."

"Klingons?" Kirk asked Sulu, but Khan replied first.

"At Warp? No, Kirk. We both know who it is."

"I don't think so, Sir, it's not coming at us from Cronos." Sulu replied over the intercom.

Kirk looked at Khan for a brief moment, searching his features for signs that he was lying. Upon finding none, Kirk ordered Khan be taken to the med-bay – cuffed, with six security officers posted on him – as he himself made his way to the bridge.


	2. Memories

Chapter Two: Memories

Khan waited in the med-bay, carefully cuffed and surrounded by guards, and yet remained remarkably calm. Yes, Khan considered his crew his family…but when he'd told the Captain of the Enterprise this, he'd meant a different family…

_Flashback – 300 years before…_

_It had been not long since the genetic experiments had finished that he'd met her. It had been a day like any other, though his mind gave the memory a particular 'rose-tint' look that could only be half true. He'd been reporting to a med-bay of all places for his check-up before setting off with his crew. He'd sat through all those tedious, unnecessary mental and physical exams to declare him uncompromised and ship-worthy, not thinking of anything in particular._

_He'd been allocated a new crew member, though he wasn't exactly sure why. As he puzzled over this, Khan felt a light tap on his shoulder. He turned to tell whoever it was to leave him be, but was stunned into silence by the vision before him._

"_Forgive me, Sir…" she began hesitantly before straightening and saluting him as regulation mandated she should, though he'd wished she wouldn't. "Mira Chivonshi, your new communications and xenolinguistics officer, reporting for duty, Captain!"_

_Khan regarded her carefully for a moment before giving her one, sharp nod. "Very good. Report to shuttle-bay six and prepare for departure."_

"_Yes, Captain." She replied, saluted him again, turned on her heel and exited the med-bay._

_Khan hadn't known it at the time, but he'd just passed a turning point in his life…a path he would come to both enjoy…and grieve._

_..._

_Two years later…_

_Two years. _Two _years fighting for the good of the human race, for the good of his people, and for all the good he and his crew had done it had only served to make those still on Earth greedier, more _blood-thirsty. _He'd had enough, but he felt like those he conquered for needed a harsh lesson of their own._

_He sat gently on the edge of the bed and gazed down lovingly at his wife…his Mira. She was everything good and pure, but was as strong and quick-witted as he, and he loved her with every fibre of his being. She was humming a lullaby and running a gentle hand over her abdomen, a loving smile of her own lighting her features._

_She was with child…their child. Oh, how wonderful it had sounded. That, right then, had been his perfect moment, and he'd foolishly wished that it would never end._

_There was a swooshing sound and Khan looked up towards the doors to see them open and his first officer standing there, looking fearful._

"_Come in Commander," Khan regarded him carefully. "What's happened?"_

"_It's…its Star Fleet, Sir." The Commander regained his composure. "They've made us all outlaws, Sir…we're all criminals…all a danger to Earth and Her interests."_

"_What?" Mira sat up, uncertainty flashing through her bright, intelligent eyes._

"_They're coming for us, Sir…" the Commander continued. "They're coming…to _kill _us."_

_Khan's mind was a blur. His crew…his wife…his unborn child. They all needed to get to safety. "When, Commander?"_

"_According to the ships scans, Captain…we have less than half an hour before they arrive." The Commander's hands shook as he replied. "What do we do, Sir?"_

_Khan looked at his Mira then down at her abdomen, placing a hand over her own before looking back towards the Commander. "Tell everyone we have to abandon ship…get everyone into the cryo-tubes…" His calm ebbed when the Commander remained frozen to the spot. "NOW!"_

___..._

"_Mira, you have to!" Khan argued with his wife._

"_No, we cannot just run and hide!" Mira shrieked as he picked her up and carried her to her designated cryo-tube. "No!_

"_We have no other choice at present, dearest." Khan soothed as he set her on her feet again, holding her close and kissing her hair._

"_We cannot give up…" Mira whispered into his chest before he pulled back and tilted her head up. It was not often that she cried, but now a tear had made its way down her cheek. "Our little one…"_

"_Will be safe." Khan reassured her as the Commander came up to him once more._

"_Everyone is safely inside their cryo-tubes, Captain."_

"_Very good, Commander. Now, get in yours." Khan replied, his eye never leaving those of his wife…his beautiful wife._

"_Yes, Captain." The Commander saluted Khan and left to place himself in his cryo-tube._

"_Love, please, you must get in now," Khan typed in the code to open her cryo-tube without looking at her. "I… I couldn't bear it if I lost you, darling."_

_Mira nodded and turned to enter the tube, but he'd stopped her, turned her back to face him once more. "There was just…one last thing." He'd murmured as he'd pulled her forward into his embrace._

"_Really?" Mira had smirked up at him._

"_Oh, yes." Khan's voice was as rough as the manner in which he took Mira into his arms and held her firmly against his chest, one hand entwined its fingers in her hair, as he pulled her forward into a searing kiss that, with her responding in kind, he never wanted to end._

_But he had to pull back, and he wished for the thousandth time it had only been for air. With a final kiss, Mira stepped back into her cryo-tube, holding his hand until the sequencing sealed the tube and froze her._

_Khan walked to the opposite wall and entered his cryo-tube, eyes fixed on his beloved, fingertips pressed against the glass of the tube as he finally closed his eyes and allowed himself to be cryogenically frozen with the rest of his crew, not knowing when or where he would awaken…if at all…_

_End flashback_

There should have been seventy-three cryo-tubes, but one had been missing since he'd been awoken and it was the one that mattered most to him. Oh, it had been found…it had just been hidden from him. But he would find it…he would find her.

Khan sat up even straighter as he heard the med-bay doors open and Kirk stood before him. "Tell me everything you know about that ship."


	3. The Take-over

Chapter Three: The Take-over

Khan led Kirk and Scotty through the enemy ship…_his_ ship, to the bridge, storming it quickly and easily, taking out the remaining ships' crew with a few simple stuns. Khan saw Kirk turn to confront Admiral Marcus, and then out of the corner of his eye he saw Scotty raise his stun-gun and a stream of blue light was shot at him. It dropped Khan…but he wasn't as unconscious as everyone seemed to think.

He readied himself for his attack, listening to Kirk's 'thought-to-be-noble' attempt to get the Admiral to surrender…but he was refusing. With a roar of outrage, Khan hurled himself at Scotty, taking him out with one blow. He went after Kirk next, punching him in the face again and again until he was out, not unaware of the Admiral's dash towards a sealed door. Khan made towards him, pushing Admiral Marcus' daughter out of his way, stamping on her upper leg and snapping her femur as he strode past her to where the idiot Admiral had cornered himself. Khan took hold of his enemy's head with a vice-like grip – slowly crushing his skull with his bare hands.

"Lieutenant! On screen! Now!" Admiral Marcus cried as his head was slowly crushed. Instantly, the ships' Bridge screen flashed on, showing a man who must be the Lieutenant the Admiral must have shouted to. "Lieutenant Paige!"

"Here, Sir." The Lieutenant was very calm, but his eyes showed both his conflict and his fear. The Lieutenant was holding a gun to someone's head…someone whose identity was concealed by a bag over their head.

"You kill me," Admiral Marcus continued, grimacing as his eyes flashed towards the screen and Lieutenant Paige removed the bag from his hostages' head. "And she dies."

Khan's eyes left those of Admiral Marcus and travelled, in what felt like slow motion, to the screen. When his eyes focused on the hostage, bound and gagged painfully, tears cascading down her face, he let out a howl of both rage and anguish. They had her…they had Mira…they had his wife!

...

"Let her go!" Khan yelled, tightening his crushing hold and gaining an agonised cry from the Admiral.

"Did you really think you were the only one we 'unfroze'? The only one we woke up, Khan?" Admiral Marcus sneered through the agony of his half crushed skull. "We needed…insurance."

"For if you ever went rogue." Lieutenant Paige put in, holding the gun closer to Mira's head.

"You _will_ give her back to me!" Khan's rage extended down to his crushing hold, gaining another wonderfully agonised scream from the Admiral.

"I think not-" the Lieutenant began, but stopped, seeming to realise that he could end his Captain's life with one wrong word.

Khan calmed and cast a dangerous glare at the Lieutenant on screen. "You will give her back to me… or I will end your _dear_ Admiral with the next twitch of my finger." Khan watched the conflicted Lieutenant as he looked from the screen at his end, to the gun in his hand, to Mira, and back to the screen. Khan chuckled darkly, "I wonder whose resolve will falter first."


	4. Relief & Returning

Chapter Four: Relief & Returning

Lieutenant Paige's eyes flicked fearfully from his hostage, Mira, then to his Admiral. A defeated look crossed his face, and he lowered his gun. "I'm sorry, Sir."

"Traitor!" The Admiral shouted; a pitiful yelp of pain catching in his throat as Khan squeezed tighter again.

"Silence!" Khan snarled at the Admiral as he turned back to the screen. "Now, Lieutenant, here's what you are going to do."

"No, Lieutenant!" the Admiral shouted in outrage and terror.

"With all due respect, Sir… SHUT UP!" Lieutenant Paige shouted back. He looked at Khan again. "What do I do?"

"You will, firstly, untie your hostage. Second, you will beam both yourself and the young lady to the Bridge, where you will surrender both yourself and your weapons." Khan instructed calmly. "Or I will terminate the Admiral's life, slowly and painfully, is that understood?"

The Lieutenant stiffened, knowing untying her could be his last act. But, the Admiral was at stake. "Very well."

Khan watched as the Lieutenant untied Mira, watched her breathe freely as the gag was removed from her mouth, watched her rub her wrists – reddened by the ropes that had bit into her skin, his eyes followed the Lieutenant as he entered the code to beam them both to the Bridge.

They materialised not far from Khan who smiled impishly. "Very good, Lieutenant." Khan's voice was soft and deadly as his eyes trailed from Lieutenant Paige to his beloved, and nodded. "Mira…"

Mira's eyes hardened and she spun on the spot, round-house kicking the Lieutenant sharply in the ribs. The snap of bone echoed through the Bridge along with the Lieutenant's scream of pain. She took two steps forward, picked up his phaser – set to kill – and shot her ex-captor as Khan increased his hold on the Admiral's head ten-fold

"You…should have let me sleep!" Khan snarled as he crushed the Admiral's skull; his daughter screaming in terror.

He turned, filled with relief, to Mira, who rushed into his arms. "You found me!"

"Did you ever doubt I wouldn't?" Khan smiled, kissing her forehead tenderly. "Mira," he continued. "Our work is not yet done…I need you to head down to the main hanger…we're going to get our people back."

...

Khan watched Mira go, noticing that Kirk was waking. A sadistic smile crossed his face as he hauled the Captain of the Enterprise to his feet and hailed the Enterprise, a phaser – set to kill – held to Kirk's head.

Khan spoke as soon as the Enterprise came on screen. "I'm going to make this very simple for you."

"Captain!" Spock's shock and fear registered on his face. Unusual for a Vulcan, Khan thought momentarily.

Khan continued without pause. "Your crew, for my crew."

"You betrayed us." Spock stated, logically and rationally looking at the unfolding situation.

"Oh you are smart, Mr Spock." Khan sneered at the Commander.

"Spock, don't-" Kirk tried to speak, but Khan slammed his phaser into the back of his head, knocking the Captain unconscious once more.

"Mr Spock," Khan continued as if nothing had changed. "Give me my crew."

Spock gazed back at Khan calmly. "What will you do when you get them?"

"Continue the work we were doing before we were banished." Khan replied, his mind wondering back to Mira who should be at the main hanger by now.

"Which, as I understand it, involves the mass-genocide of any being you find to be less than superior." Spock continued, buying for time.

"Shall I destroy you, Mr Spock?" Khan queried. "Or will you give me what I want?"

Khan watched Spock consider something momentarily. "We have no transporter capabilities."

"Fortunately mine are perfectly functioning. Drop your shields." He ordered.

"If I do so I have no guarantee that you will not destroy the Enterprise." Spock reasoned.

"Well, let's play this out logically then, Mr Spock." Khan's half smirk grew sadistic once more. "Firstly, I will kill your captain to demonstrate my resolve, then, if yours holds I will have no choice but to kill you and your entire crew."

"If you destroy our ship," Spock was merely delaying the inevitable by arguing. "You will also destroy your own people."

"Your crew requires oxygen to survive, mine does not. I will target your life support systems located behind the aft nacelle. And after every single person aboard your ship suffocates I will walk over your cold corpses to recover my people." Khan paused, face now void of all emotion. "Now, shall we begin?"

Spock's expression was resigned as he looked towards Sulu. "Lower shields."

"A wise choice, Mr Spock." Khan felt relief wash over him. "I see all 72 torpedoes are still in their tubes. If they're not mine, Commander, I will know it."

"Vulcans do not lie." Spock conceded. "The torpedoes are yours."

Khan closed his eyes in relief as he saw the torpedos materialise in the main hanger of his ship, Mira wasn't anywhere in sight, but she wouldn't be far away from their extended family. "Thank you, Mr Spock."

"I have fulfilled your terms," Spock countered. "Now, fulfil mine."

"Well Kirk," Khan said softly as the Bridge screen went blank and the Enterprise's Captain began to get up. "It seems apt to return you to your crew. After all, no ship should go down without her captain."

He watched Kirk, Scotty and the Admiral's daughter dematerialise from the Bridge and smiled. He and his people were safe, now all he had to do was rid the universe of the knowledge of their existence.

He switched the system to voice control. "Lock weapons."

"_Weapons locked_." The computer replied.

Khan looked up at the Enterprise through the Bridge windows, still and serene, preparing to say _'Fire!'_. His smiled was soon displaced though, as an explosion ripped through his ship, emanating from the main hanger.

"No…" His people… his wife…his unborn child… Grief filled his eyes, and a cry of anguish ripped itself from his throat. "NOOOO!"

Khan snarled as he set a collision course for his ship. It would crash into a densely populated area of the city below, with hundreds of casualties. He would never forgive them for what they had done…and he would take his revenge on them.


	5. Defeat

Chapter Five: Defeat

Khan had jumped from the wreckage of his ship, leaving the carnage and the deaths of every single person he'd held most dear behind him. He now ran, glancing over his shoulder every few seconds to see if Commander Spock was still following…and how close he was. He was fast running out of road to run down, but he saw his escape ahead.

A mining hover-vehicle was raising itself higher in order to mobilise. With a confident sneer, he jumped and landed on its roof without so much as trying, fully aware that Commander Spock had jumped after him. This had turned out wonderfully. The man responsible for the death of his people, for the death of his _family_, had come to kill him. How deliciously ironic it was that, now, Khan would kill him instead.

He watched as Spock crawled up onto the roof of the craft, struggling to hold on…to not fall. Khan sneered as he walked forward and picked up the other man, throwing him painfully into the centre of the obliging craft's roof. Spock groaned as he stood. Khan lunged at him then, landing punch after bone-shattering punch to Spock's head, kicking him in the chest so hard that the Commander went flying through the air and landed on the opposite side of the craft's roof. He charged forward, taking Spock's head between his hands, intending to crush his skull. But Spock performed the Vulcan Mind-Meld. Unable to withstand the Mind-Meld, Khan shoved Commander Spock away, tumbling him to the ground.

With a backwards glace of pure, unadulterated loathing, Khan jumped from the current craft down onto a similar mining hover-vehicle which was passing below. For a moment, Khan thought it was over, that Spock had had enough. That was until the Commander himself landed right on his head and proceeded to throw blow after blow at Khan.

Khan lunged forward again, with what would have been the defeating blow, but Spock was ready for him this time it seemed. He dodged Khan's fist and, moving slightly behind him, took hold of Khan's shoulder in the commonly known Vulcan Nerve-Pinch, bringing Khan to his knees for a moment.

With a strangled cry of rage, Khan took a hold of Spock's hand and, upon removing it from his shoulder, twisted Spock's arm painfully away from his person. He was about to finish Spock for good, Khan's crushing hold on the Commanders head telling, when he was shot from behind…no, _stunned_ from behind.

He turned to see Lieutenant Uhura holding a phaser directed at his chest. Khan struggled to his feet and, bracing himself for further shots, made his way towards her, taking six _stun _shots from her phaser.

As he reached her though, something hard and distinctly metal collided with the back of his head, and he went down hard, his head smacking into the steel of the craft below him. Spock grabbed Khan and rolled him over, pinning him down as he punched him over and over again relentlessly, and intent on ending Khan's existence.

Uhura intervened. "Spock!" she yelled over the rush of wind around them. "Spock, stop! He's the only way we can save Kirk!"

Spock froze, his head snapping up to look at Uhura. With a final look of pure hatred at a nearly unconscious Khan, Spock delivered his final blow, sending Khan into the oblivion that was sleep.


	6. I Will Make Them Pay

Chapter Six: I Will Make Them Pay

The cryo-tubes had been left alone for some time in the med bay, not a soul was around. A silent, hooded figure in a hap-hazard Star Fleet uniform slipped through the room, looking at the faces of those in the cryo-tubes, searching for someone. Eventually, the figure stopped beside one of the cryo-tubes and removed the hood that concealed the figure's face.

Mira gazed lovingly down at her beloved Khan, a hand pressed against the icy glass of his cryo-tube…of his prison. A single tear fell from her eye as she continued to gaze at him.

"Hello my Love." She smiled sadly down at his frozen form, a small, sarcastic laugh quietly leaving her as she moved her thumb over the clod glass in, what would have been a soothing manner. "I'm alive…and so are our people." She paused, looking briefly down towards her abdomen before back at Khan. "Their explosion lost us our baby, Khan…" Mira tried to explain to his unconscious form, the words choking her as she tried to get them out.

Her head shot up at the sound of soft voices passed through the corridor, but the sound faded away slowly and she continued her short vigil at Khan's side.

"Rest easy, Love," Mira whispered gently, a sweet smile lingering on her lips. "I will take care of our people. We may have lost our child to the attack of the crew of the Enterprise…but we have not lost the fight." Her voice broke slightly as another tear fell, her face becoming grave. "But I swear to you…I will make them pay for what they've done to us."

Mira's ice blue eyes closed as she leant down and pressed a kiss against the glass that separated Khan from the world she now had to face alone. A voice coming along the corridor snapped Mira out of her reverie, and she straightened.

A wicked smile crossed her lips as she looked towards the sound, pulled her hood about her and, silently, slipped, unnoticed, from the room…

...

Chekov thought his voice sounded disembodied as it echoed off the walls of the ships corridors. He had a feeling of being either listened to or watched, but he continued on his way to the Med-bay. "Yis, Captain, I am on route to ze Med-bay now to inshpect."

The Med-bay lights were dim when Chekov stepped inside, a distinct chill in the air; though that wasn't surprising as it was filled with cryogenically frozen people. All the tubes appeared to be fine though.

"How's it going, Mr. Chekov?" Kirk asked through the communicator in Chekov's hand.

"Ewerything seems to be in order, Captain…" Chekov replied slowly, looking around the room cautiously. There was that feeling again…

"Very good, Chekov, return to the Bridge. Kirk out."

Chekov sighed and turned to leave, but something about one of the cryo-tubes wasn't quite right. There was a mark on one of them. As he made his way closer to the tube in question, he discovered that the mark was the imprint of a kiss upon the cold glass. Cold glass that belonged to Khan's cryo-tube.

His head snapped up as a disembodied laugh, dark and malicious, filled the air around him. Chekov shivered at the eerie sound, double-taking at a sleeping Khan in his cryo-tube. For a second he'd thought…but it wasn't possible. Khan's eyes couldn't have been open…he was cryogenically frozen…

Again, that eerie laugh echoed around the Med-bay and, for just a second before he left, Chekov could have sworn he'd seen a pair of glowing, ice blue eyes…

...

**I could be cruel and leave it there...but what would you all like?**


	7. Safe

Chapter Seven: Safe…

Khan's eyes opened as his cryo-tube unlocked, releasing him from its lonely, icy prison. His second in command was looking at him anxiously. Cautiously, Khan exited his cryo-tube and gazed in awe and affection as he saw his crew safely exiting their cryo-tubes around him. A strange sense of relief washed of him momentarily, and he smiled, a single tear trickling down his cheek.

His mind focused then and he spun back to face his second in command. "Where is Mira?" he choked on the words as they came. "Where is my wife?"

The Commander smiled. "She's waiting for you in your chambers…Captain."

Khan looked about himself again… "Where are we?"

"Back on our ship, Captain…your wife, it seems, is rather…resourceful." The Commander smirked.

"Resourceful?" Khan asked curiously.

"Yes, she hid us all until it was safe, waking up once a year to check on us and organise the downfall's of certain people." The Commander replied. "In the equivalent of a year, or a little more, she changed _everything_."

Khan's voice cracked, sadness and relief threatening to overwhelm him. "I thought she was dead."

"So did she…" The Commander replied and gestured for Khan to follow him. "But Mira lived to save our people."

"Forgive me, Commander," Khan continued to look about himself as he was led along several corridors. "But, how is this _our _ship? Surely Star Fleet would have destroyed it?"

"Well…when I said _'our ship'_, I meant a more…modern version of our ship." The Commander continued as he lead Khan through a set of doors.

"Where are we?" Khan asked cautiously.

"Safe." Khan turned…it was Mira. "We are all safe."

Khan reached for her and pulled her into his arms, crying for joy. "I thought I lost you."

"I thought the same…" Mira motioned for the Commander to leave then pulled her beloved down to her, catching him in a searing kiss. When they both finally came up for air, she smiled. "But we have each other now."

Khan kissed her softly and rested his forehead against hers tenderly. "Forgive me, but…_when _are we, Love?"

Mira pulled him over to the windows that looked down over Earth. "The Star-date is twenty-five fifty-nine point fifty-seven. It has been exactly three-hundred and two days since you were last awake…and we now _run _Star Fleet." Mira looked down on the Earth below with conviction. "And we _own_ the Earth."

Khan looked down at his wife with love and admiration. "And now we have our forever." His loving smile turned into a wicked grin as he pulled her towards their bed.

"Yes, my love," Mira replied as he lowered her onto the bed. "Now, we have our forever…"


	8. A Memory Never Shared

_**Chapter Eight: A Memory Never Shared**_

Mira lay in bed with Khan, watching as he slept peacefully. She'd almost forgotten how marvellous it was...making love with him…_almost_. Eventually he would awaken, and he would want the extended version of how they all got here…how she'd made them safe. Three hundred years to the rest of the universe had been just under a year for her, waking up once a year to enact her plans, check progress and align herself with the most important people on Earth.

It had not been that hard to find people willing to help her…people against the Star Fleet of three hundred years ago…it was harder to stay away from Kirk and his crew…

_~Flashback~_

_Day 1- Star-date: __2260.49_

_Mira scammed her way into Star Fleet Academy, planting an entire lifetime of information for them to check. The new Admiral took too much of a shine to her, but she could use that. He would bump up her status and fast track her graduation._

_Day 8- Star-date: __2268.49_

_She excelled far above her fellow cadets in everything, just as her race was genetically coded to…made legal by that annoying Admiral…the stress of the job was starting to tell, and it had only been a year for him. _

_Day 16- Star-date: __2276.49_

_Mira graduated from Star Fleet with a Masters degree in xenolinguistics, with a side Bachelor degree in advanced weaponry. This time, she remained awake for a month and, over that time span, Mira slowly climbed up the ladder. Commissioned as Captain soon thereafter, Mira smuggled her people out of a Star Fleet 'lock up' and into a cargo bay on her ship; sealed off from the rest of the ship. Only she and one other were allowed in…_

_Day24 - Star-date: __2284.49_

_Mira continued her regular medical checkup on her fellow crew…still frozen in their cryo-tubes. As always, she stopped longer at Khan's side. Her 'associate' reminding her that she would have to 'sleep' again soon… her human crew merely thought her eccentric…how wrong they were…_

_Day32 - Star-date: __2292.49_

_Word had reached Mira's ship that the Enterprise had lost one of its crew…Admiral Marcus's daughter, Carol, had died in the line of duty._

**...**

_Day160 __- Star-date: __2420.49_

_The Earth had turned a corner in its history…it was finally at peace. But it wouldn't last long. Kirk and his crew were all long since dead…time had done its work well. Her revenge on Star Fleet was almost complete. She'd been setting them up for years to be weakened at the time of attack…and it would be soon._

_Day240__- Star-date: __2500.49_

_Plans had changed. Alliances made and broken meant that Mira had to change tactics. Instead of destroying Star Fleet…she and her crew would control it. And with control of Star Fleet came control over the last piece of the puzzle…Earth._

_Day300 __- Star-date: __2559.57_

_Everything was as it should be. There were all safe…Mira could wake up her crew now, and could continue their work; not as criminals…but as commanders. Commanders of a Star Fleet worthy of them. Today…she would have her husband back._

_~End Flashback~_

Mira smiled happily as she watched her beloved husband stir slightly in his sleep and she brushed the mussed locks of hair from his forehead. She kissed his cheek gently and he opened sleep filled eyes with a contented smile on his face. Now she would tell him…_now_ she would explain.

_Finis'…_

**_..._**

**Thankyou all for reviewing. And to that one mean bastard who said such nasty things, I say this: the only thing wasted around here, is you.**

**To all others, much love and thanks!**

**So long boys & girls!**


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